Customer Service Throw Down

Here’s the scenario: You own a local business offering air conditioning (HVAC) installation and repair that’s number four in the residential market. You only have a few commercial customers. You had 50 employees but when the recession hit, you implemented a hiring freeze. Two resigned for family reasons, one was terminated for poor performance and one is currently on FMLA for the next nine weeks. Due to those vacancies, everyone is stretched thin.

You rely on Yellow pages advertising, referrals from existing customers, and your point of sale advertising on your bright yellow panel vans. You did some AM talk radio advertising, but stopped it when the recession hit.

Your revenues are down, but your employees have helped out by slashing costs wherever possible. Still, that’s not enough. You’ve barely made payroll several times.

You’re reassessing everything. You’re open to new ideas, but you can’t afford to invest any money in something unless it has a near immediate ROI.

Here’s the throw down:

Most of your employees are open to new ideas as long as they believe it will help the company and save their jobs. What customer service policies and practices can you create that will increase your customer retention and perhaps generate word of mouth advertising?

Specifically, what can your installers and repair crews do? What can your office staff do?